


Just a Wager

by ThePirateQueenAngel



Series: Vir Tanadhal [3]
Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Attraction, F/M, Flirting, Fluff, I'm Bad At Tagging, Jealous Solas, Non-Graphic Violence, Pre-Relationship, Sparring
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-12
Updated: 2017-08-12
Packaged: 2018-12-09 22:19:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11678226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThePirateQueenAngel/pseuds/ThePirateQueenAngel
Summary: Riani overhears a conversation in the tavern about who would win in a fight, her or the Iron Bull. She suggests he puts his money where his mouth is.





	Just a Wager

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt #1 for the month!
> 
> A 'what if' question from a friend that I thought was so Riani, I just had to write it! Might even make it into Vir Assan if it can fit organically <3

"Are you listening to me at all, Fen?"

Solas blinked and turned his head toward the Inquisitor, realizing he had been lost in thought. "Ir'abelas Inquisitor, my mind was elsewhere. What were you saying?"

She rolled her eyes at him and he watched as an exasperated head shake disturbed the curls that spread down her back like wild fire. He had always loved her hair. It was the first thing he noticed about her, all those years ago when he had attempted to seduce her. But that was in another world, not this one, and he couldn't afford to have the feelings for the Inquisitor that he was starting to recognize as love, that she was the heart that beats outside of his chest.

Riani was the only woman he had ever met that he found worthy of being his mate, and that terrified him. He could not afford to be weak, not now, and neither could she. Too many outcomes balanced on their current actions, they needed to be in the present, not lost in the past. 

Not as if she'd ever truly forgive him for what he had done. Solas was not so foolish to think that he still stood a chance, not any longer. 

"I give up, you aren't listening. What is going on inside of your head today?" She quirked up an eyebrow. 

They entered the tavern as she asked, and thankfully the noise that erupted in greeting was enough to startle her out of her question. She nodded and smiled to the numerous soldiers and workers who raised their cups in greeting as they came up to the bar. She ordered an ale for herself and then gestured to Solas for whatever he wanted as well, to be put on the Inquisitor's tab. It was something he had grown familiar with the longer he was in her presence. How she did things for him without a second thought, as if it came naturally to her.  

Riani picked a table near the Chargers, where Varric was already seated and had taken up most of the surface with papers and various bottles of ink. She plopped into the chair nearest Varric and tried to sneak a glance at what he was working on, and the dwarf immediately shoved the paper to the bottom of the small stack.

"That's going to smudge, you know. A terrible waste to have to write it all over again just to keep me from seeing it."

"A small price to pay to keep the nosy Inquisitor away from it until it's finished," Riani pouted at Varric, she loved his stories, and now that she found out he was writing about the Inquisition, about her, she was always trying to snag a glance. "Done doing Inquisitorial things for the day I take it?" Varric spoke,  obviously trying to distract Riani out of her questioning of his work. She knew it as well, but humored him anyway.

"I was granted early leave by my wisest and most favorite advisers, though I imagine it was more for their benefit than my own. After three hours I basically become a hindrance to whatever it is we're arguing over. Leliana practically shoved me out of the door, I hope they aren't too broken up about making decisions without me." She sighed in false annoyance, too crafty for her own good. 

 

As the afternoon passed into early evening, the tavern filled with more people done with their daily duties. The surroundings grew more lively and warm as the patrons drank. 

Including Riani.

Somewhere along the line their table of three had filled out to eight or nine, all members of Riani's inner-circle. Dorian of course had taken the seat closest to her, and the more they drank the closer they became. At the moment Riani had her legs draped across Dorian's lap, where he was resting an arm over her calf. They never seemed to notice these moments of unplanned closeness, it came naturally to them both. Solas found himself jealous of the ease Riani felt around the Tevinter mage, and it felt like the world was laughing at him.

_Just like Dorian would, were he ever to admit to his jealousy aloud._

 

"Solas!"

A bellowing voice came from behind him, and a hand clamped onto his shoulder. Solas stiffened immediately from the contact, forcing himself not to flinch away. It was the voice of the Iron Bull.

"Yes, Iron Bull?" He spoke coldly, sounding immediately out of place among the camaraderie that surrounded him. He cleared his throat, "how can I assist you?"

"We were wondering-" He pointed a giant finger over his shoulder toward the table the Charger's had claimed as their own, "- if you would weigh in on a bet we've got going on. Some of us can't seem to agree on something, no matter _how wrong they are_."

The Bull's voice deepened and grew louder on the last few words, and Solas glanced to his mercenaries to see a collective eye roll spread across the table. Clearly whatever it was, it seemed that Iron Bull was alone whatever opinion he had.

"Of course, Bull. What is the wager?" He moved to stand, and walked closer to the Charger's as Bull took his place once again at the biggest chair at the table. Though Solas guessed that was more due to his size, than any importance he placed on himself. 

"Well, we were discussing-"

"-You were discussing, Chief." Krem sighed as he interrupted, obviously frutrated at the Qunari.

"- _We_ were discussing who would win in a fight, me or the Inquisitor?" 

 


End file.
